Female Kurds have also been demonstrating for a memorial to the massacre of Sindschar and ask women from all over the world to show solidarity.

Claudia Ermel | Azad Caan | 04.08.2017

On August 3rd, sees the anniversary for the third time, of the genocidal attack of the so-called IS (Islamic State) on Yezidi Kurdish women in the northern Iraqi Sindschar. Since a targeted attempt was made to eradicate the female members of the Yezidi community of Sindschar, this atrocity is now also called a feminicide . The Yezidi women's movement (TAJÊ) published a press statement on 3rd. August as “Aktionstag gegen Femizid” (day of action against feminicide), which explains the more detailed background. Our contribution is based on this information.

According to unofficial figures, more than 5,000 women and children were kidnapped and sold on slave markets as part of the IS attacks in Sindschar. The women and girls were sold not only in Northern Iraq and Syria, but also in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, and have been held and exploited since then as sex slaves. The UN has described the IS attack on the Yezidis as genocide. This genocide represents the 74th massacre in its history for the Yezidi religious community.

Women organize themselves
The female members of this community now organize themselves as the Yezidi Free Women's Movement (TAJÊ) in Sindschar as well as in Europe. However, the danger in which the Yezidi religious community faces is still present. There are still countless Yezidi women, girls and boys in the hands of the IS

The International Yezidi Women's Conference held in Bielefeld on 11th and 12th March 2017 said that an effective fight at the international level is urgently needed for the liberation of the Yezidi women who are in the hands of the IS. In this context, they decided to celebrate August 3rd as the International Campaign against Feminizing.

Femizide is a worldwide phenomenon
“Feminizing is affecting us all, because the systematic killing of women on the basis of their gender is a global phenomenon and encompasses all physical, psychological, economic and structural violence and exclusion of women, gender – specific violence threatens the life, health and rights of Billions of women around the world, but as in the case of the terrorist organization IS and its allies, the perpetrators usually remain unpunished. “ (Taje)

On August 3rd, in Hannover, around 100 people – Yezidi women together with other Kurds – demonstrated in support of the common memory of the victims and the prisoners of Sindschar. As the Maschseefest had only just begun, their call for worldwide women 's solidarity remained almost unnoticed by the local press.